1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for forming artistic forked pipes made of aluminum or copper alloy, and especially to the method to manufacture artistic forked pipes from aluminum or copper alloy by means of a forming technique. The pipes can be used as connecting pipes in a kind of furniture, a construction material, a decorative lamp and a sport instrument etc. having higher strength and high-class artistic modeling. Or can be used as pipe connectors requiring light weight and higher strength, and as forked connecting pipes in a metallic artistic article in the form of a tree and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Metallic forked pipes made by conventional founding techniques (such as triple pipes or multiple connectors) are of no concern with the forming technique of the metallic forked pipes by forming in the present invention. This is because that grains structure of castings is too larger and loose although the conventional founding techniques can get artistic contours of forked pipes made of aluminum or copper alloy more easily. Looseness is the main reason of inferior strength of such castings. And the overly coarse castings made by founding techniques can not be used to manufacture artistic forked pipes made of aluminum or copper alloy with large strength and high-class artistic modeling. They are comparatively inferior than the forked pipes made of aluminum or copper alloy by the forming technique of the present invention.
Among the metallic forked pipes made of aluminum or copper alloy in the art, none has used integral forming technique by forming, mostly are made by founding techniques or the technique of welding half-cylinder shaped parts. Such forked pipes made by conventional techniques are not elegant nor adequate in strength and tenacity, thus do not meet the requirement of good style as well as higher strength and good finished. And therefore, are more hardly used in the case which requires better strength for resisting internal or external pressure of pipes. Some of the conventional forked pipes used in the art are made by welding ends of pipes together such as the case of the forked aluminum or copper alloy pipes used in a kind of furniture, a construction material, a decorative lamp and a sport instrument etc. If it is desired to make them to meet the requirement of lowering weight by forming thin pipe walls, aluminum or copper alloy pipes can not meet this requirement though. Because forked aluminum or copper alloy pipes with thin pipe walls made by conventional founding techniques can not afford suffering of concentration of stress that is not allowed as to safety. Therefore, the forked pipes used in a kind of furniture, a construction material, a decorative lamp and a sport instrument etc. in the art, especially in consideration of supporting strength, are hardly to be reduced in their thickness. And are hardly used to make forked pipes with high quality such as low weight and large strength. These problems have been there in the art for a long, long time, however, it is not impossible to overcome, for the forked pipes made by conventional founding techniques are inadequate in strength and tenacity, and do not meet the requirement of good style as well as large strength and good surface finished.